Diamond Creek Fire

[Drip_Torch]

Is this how the dinosaurs felt after the asteroid smacked into earth? Sure got dark this evening. That fire must have a whole bunch of dry fuel....

Not sure how the dinosaurs felt, but oh yeah, that fire found a bunch of dry fuel - on it's way to Sheep N3 and there appears to be more between there and flat top.

If Modis hasn't gone completely awry it crossed the border during a 10 km sprint.

I'm trying to imagine the surprise in the Castanet news room, when they finally figure out it's less than 20 kms away from East Gate and over 60 kms away from Winthrop.

It's between the Ashnola and Pasayten rivers, burning parallel to two other fire scars, from two other fires, that have crossed the border in recent years. (2005 and 2015, if memory serves me correctly.)

[Glacier]

I don't care if it burns down the entire province. All I care about is that it does it legally by getting clearance from Customs first. It has now crossed the border, but no word yet on whether it got permission from Canadian Border Services.

[hallgirl]

I hear that Cathedral Park Lodge is evacuating guests. Our hiking weekend cancelled.

[JagXKR]

Yesterday there was nothing on the BC Wildfire map regarding this fire. Now there is a dot way down south where the fire started. When I click on it it says

Fire Number: K51406
Date of Discovery 2017-7-28
Suspected Cause Person
Approximate Location Diamond Creek Fire, USA
Estimated Size (HA) 0.01
Stage of Control Active

Maybe it has crossed the border?

And just before I posted, this story appeared.

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/205425 ... s-into-B-C

It has crossed.

[WalterWhite]

There are some beautiful areas down in and around Cathedral Park. Sadly, they may very well look a lot different in the not too distant future.

[Drip_Torch]

There are some beautiful areas down in and around Cathedral Park. Sadly, they may very well look a lot different in the not too distant future.

Yeah, there sure are.

I'm not worried about them changing anytime soon. At least, not likely from this fire. (IMHO) There's a very large rock wall between the fire and the park. It's over 20 kms away and the short term forecasts suggest it should be going the other way.

US forecasts suggest a further push to the north, northwest is possible, but it really is sort of contained, both by previous burn scars and geographic features.

[ferri]

This map has probably already been posted but I'm doing it again anyway.

https://mappingsupport.com/p/gmap4.php? ... fire_3.txt

[WalterWhite]

There are some beautiful areas down in and around Cathedral Park. Sadly, they may very well look a lot different in the not too distant future.

Yeah, there sure are.

I'm not worried about them changing anytime soon. At least, not likely from this fire. (IMHO) There's a very large rock wall between the fire and the park. It's over 20 kms away and the short term forecasts suggest it should be going the other way.

US forecasts suggest a further push to the north, northwest is possible, but it really is sort of contained, both by previous burn scars and geographic features.

Greatly appreciate your input and viewpoint Drip_Torch.

[Glacier]

Yesterday there was nothing on the BC Wildfire map regarding this fire. Now there is a dot way down south where the fire started. When I click on it it says

Fire Number: K51406
Date of Discovery 2017-7-28
Suspected Cause Person
Approximate Location Diamond Creek Fire, USA
Estimated Size (HA) 0.01
Stage of Control Active

Maybe it has crossed the border?

And just before I posted, this story appeared.

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/205425 ... s-into-B-C

It has crossed.

I hate to say, but I called it 4 hours before the media was even aware of it. Not that I would ever brag or anything.

[Drip_Torch]

I hate to say, but I called it 4 hours before the media was even aware of it. Not that I would ever brag or anything.

Don't get me wrong Glacier, I really am awed by your ability to make that call (4 hours after I did), but I'm little concerned with your complacency - especially with you being the weather guy and all. I really have to ask, last night around 9:30 pm, when the IR sat shot showed a big orange ball and the radar was showing much more ash precipitating out of the plume, you must have known this fire was making a run through the Pevee drainage for the border.

Why didn't you call CBSA and alert them?

I tried, but as is often the case, my rotary dial phone wouldn't let me select the right option on the menu.

[Glacier]

Touché. Touché.

[Drip_Torch]

And, not to take away from your accomplishments and I hope this isn't presumptuous on my part, but I have to make one small correction to your post. You only called it four hours before the local media was aware of it. Gabbert had it up on wildfire today, 4 hours before that.

You should consider adding @wildfiretoday to the list of twits you follow. (twits? Is that what the kids call it, or are they tweeter'ers? If Ann Coulter's in that list would it change things?)

On a more serious note, do you ever look at FRP? Had a little fun trying to match your photo from last night, with FRP centroids just to see how big the numbers were. Saw a couple approaching 4 digit MW's. It's just something else that I've been looking at, every now and then, - watching the technology come a long way in the last 10 years, or so.

ETA: With the way the technology is evolving, I wonder if we're not less than 25 years away from seeing all the overhead positions contracted out, from a telemarking firm in Mumbai, to remote workers on a piecemeal basis?

[JagXKR]

This is a bad fire. Rank 4-5 according to the story.

https://www.castanet.net/news/BC/205425 ... s-into-B-C

Now a wildfire of note.

http://bcfireinfo.for.gov.bc.ca/hprScri ... asp?ID=673

[Drip_Torch]

This is a bad fire. Rank 4-5 according to the story.

It's been a very active fire for a few days now. I suspect, given that I'm watching Penticton's tanker group come from the north, in the near dark, there's worse fires.

I'll tell you what I see from the comfort of the armchair I quarterback from - exactly what the fire information officer told castanet.

This is why I'm starting to lean more towards Modis FRP as a tool. I'll explain, my estimate of the area consumed on the Canadian side was exactly 1700 ha. (done quick and dirty with google polygon tool) I see an intense and coordinated flame front, buried underneath a whole bunch of other, lesser intense centroids. Suggesting that the fire is spotting out a fair distance in front of organized head fire. Of course, Modis hasn't updated since about 12:30 this afternoon, so I look to a couple other tools, satellite weather and radar. Yesterday, I could see the plume, - as you posted in the morning. In the afternoon, there was a radar track. At some point, I got up and looked out the window and it was dark.

Today, since about 1:30pm, I've been noticing all of those indicators disappearing. No plume on sat, no radar track and I even saw the sun for a few hours. The entirety of all of those observations, leads me to believe, the fire is heading north, perhaps a degree of north, north east. The fuels get spotty and the flanks are relatively contained. I'm pretty certain the fire is still on the move, but it's not moving as fast.

A bad fire? Hmm, I'd call it active, and far enough away from values that it's not an immediate concern, given everything else I see going on in the province.

I'll know more in a few more hours... (and of course all of the above is IMHO.)

[JagXKR]

Hope you are right. The words "rank 4-5" tend to get me a tad worried. Also the 1700ha in such a short time. Also never seen a plume on the radar til yesterday.
But then again my armchair does not have your knowledge. Never worked in any fire capacity. Again hope you are right.